Since it was such a gloomy weekend, I headed down to the library and got a stack of Graphic Novels, a few of which featured Batman.
I’ve missed about 10 years worth of continuity on “Batman” and its long running stable mate “Detective Comics”, so its been fun in recent months to pick up books filling in the gaps.
Over the weekend I read the fairly recent “Hush” by “Heroes” creative consultant Jeff Loeb and a couple of Mike Barr GNs from yesteryear that I’d somehow managed to miss out on, “Batman: Year Two” and “Son Of The Demon”.
All good, if not mind blowing stuff and all stories that shy away from the gritty pseudo-realism that has become the norm for Batman stories, harking back to the bitter romance and hard-boiled noir of earlier tales of the Dark Knight.
I read the Mike Barr stuff mainly because the current Batman continuity refers to this earlier work, with current Batman writer Grant Morrison exploring the loose ends of Barr’s “Son of The Demon” storyline.
It also got me thinking about the huge number of people I’ve read and admired who have handled this greatest of all comic book icons.
The artwork in “Hush” for example is provided by Jim Lee, and is easily the best thing I’ve seen him do. He’s a very accomplished comic book artist in general, but with Batman, he has found the character he was born to draw.
I’d say the same about several others, so here are just a few of the great Batman artists.
Jim Lee
Alan Davis
Neil Adams
Frank Miller
David Mazzucchelli
Norm Breyfogle
...and my personal favorite, the late great Jim Aparo
There are oodles more of course but these are just some of my favorites - artists who have helped bind the character of Batman not just irrevocably to fans but to popular culture as a whole.
The resonance of Batman is pretty remarkable really for a comic book about a guy who fights crime dressed up like a flying rat.
2 comments:
I was really into the Dark Knight Returns comics when those came out. I wonder if I still have those at my parents' place. I totally remember when Robin died as well...that was actually really big news, even outside of the comic world.
Yes, the Jason Todd Robin death was one of the first Batman storylines I picked up. I recall there was phone number fans could call to either save or kill him, and rumours abound that the fans actually voted to save him but a counting glitch sent the result the other way. Great stuff.
It did cause quite a stir at the time, much like the recent death of Captain America has.
Jason Todd has of course miraculously come back to life since and more than once - comics love a good resurrection.
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